Letter To Commissioners On Guemes Ferry Fare Increase Proposal 2010

Guemes Island Ferry Committee
Allen Bush, Jr. • Carl Cady • Dyvon Havens • Steve Orsini • Glen Veal, Chair



November 14, 2010

Skagit County Board of Commissioners
1800 Continental Place
Mt. Vernon, WA. 98273

RE: Guemes Ferry Fare Increase Proposal

Dear Commissioners,

We recently met with Public Works Director Henry Hash and Ferry Manager Rachel Beck, along with Public Works accounting staff, to discuss a fare increase for the Guemes Island Ferry as per your directive. While we realize the County is facing shrinking tax revenues, we question whether now is the time to implement a new fare structure for the following reasons:

1.)The recently passed Public Forum Resolution, #R20100050 has an addendum that contains a Work Plan which includes reviewing and possibly revising the current Fare Recovery Model. This work plan should have been reviewed last August, 2010.. The Work Plan also contains a scction on developing Level of Service standards. These intertwining issues have not yet been discussed and therefore we believe that your directive to raise fares conflicts with the intent of working on these issues through a public process we all supported as described in the Public Forum Resolution.

2). Two primary actions taken by Skagit County: 1) extending the hours of operation in 2006 and 2.) adding a fourth full time crew position in 2003, have added at minimum of $200,000 to the operational cost without generating new revenue. .The Current Fare Recovery Model has only embedded these costs in its five year averaging method. The Current Model is based on a deficit reimbursement calculation which includes costs far beyond the bridge analogy which was the model used successfully for years to set the fare revenue target. Further, other cost reductions have not been addressed in the ferry operation even when other county divisions have faced mandatory cost reductions of 10,15 and 20% three times in 2009. The cost reduction that was finally achieved in the ferry operation was to partially decrease the use of the fourth crew person.

3,) Currently, there exists more cost reduction possibilities that will offset the shortfall calculated by using the current fare recovery model. We would like to suggest that you continue your cost saving effort as an alternative to raising fares. The following is a list of possibilities to consider:

  • Return to the original job description of a half time non-union ferry manager: saving approximately $50,000 per year.
  • Divide full time mechanic hours between mechanical and deckhand work: saving approximately $40,000 per year.
  • Re-negotiate union contract to reflect current staffing needs eliminating monthly 176 hour minimum guarantee: saving approximately $50,000 per year.
  • Purchase vending machine for tickets to reduce need for more cash handling personnel for mid-shift watch: saving approximately $25,000 per year.

4.) Raising fares while cutting service is not in the public’s interest at this time. The loss of ferry service, particularly on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings, has many ferry users upset. The forthcoming two-month ferry outage in 2011 will also cause extreme hardship.

5.) The calculations used to substantiate the fare increase proposal presented by Public Works were based on 2010 and 2011 projections. It has been established past practice to use verifiable numbers instead of projections. The use of these projections has resulted in the apparent need for the 25% fare increase. Coupled with the change over to the new fiscal year of Jan. 1 to Dec 31, we have incomplete data for making an accurate fare analysis.

In conclusion, while we agree it may be necessary to rework the fare schedule in order to simplify the fare categories and reduce cash handling, it is not the time to impose a 25% across the board fare increase without first dealing with the issues we have listed above. We appreciate your attention to our suggestions and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,


Guemes Island Ferry Committee

cc    Henry Hash
        Rachel Beck